Portland chapter of Engineers Without Borders plans hurricane

The Portland chapter of Engineers Without Borders-USA expects to get involved in Hurricane Katrina relief efforts but is in no position to do so at this time, the chapter's president said Wednesday.

I definitely see Engineers Without Borders playing a role in New Orleans and Mississippi, said Joe Waln, a hydraulics engineer with David Evans and Associates Inc. and leader of the Portland chapter of Engineers Without Borders, a humanitarian group that partners with disadvantaged communities to improve quality of life through environmentally and economically sustainable engineering projects.

But it will likely be months before the Portland chapter can play a role, Waln said.

It's similar to the (Asian) tsunami disaster, Waln said. We're not set up to do immediate disaster relief. We're not a long-term development organization.

Months after Asia was battered by a Tsunami in late 2004, the Portland chapter of Engineers Without Borders, Waln said, partnered with another relief organization, Asiana Education Development, to build two boarding schools for Sri Lankan children orphaned by the storm.

Similar efforts in the U.S. Gulf Coast are possible, Waln said, but likely won't happen in heavily trafficked areas attended to by the federal government.

New Orleans is going to have a lot of money that goes into rebuilding it. But a lot of smaller communities are going to be overlooked.

Portland Army Corps workers dispatched

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the federal department that will repair New Orleans' damaged levees and likely handle other engineering work in Louisiana and Mississippi, has called seven employees with the department's Portland office to New Orleans and could seek more in the near future, an Army Corps spokeswoman said.

Five employees from the Portland debris removal team were called to New Orleans on Monday, said Heidi Y. Helwig, an Army Corps spokeswoman in Portland, with the other employees called after that date.

In New Orleans, those employees are expected to administer and oversee contracts with private agencies, Helwig said, to ensure debris removal, construction of temporary housing and distribution of ice and water.

But those duties could change depending on the needs of New Orleans residents, Helwig said.

You work way outside of what you're used to, she said. You have to be very flexible to meet the needs of whatever the mission is.

The Portland office has a staff of about 1,100, Helwig said.

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